A lot of us have put on a few extra pounds this last year. Now that the days are longer and warmer, this is the perfect time to reshape those eating and moving habits so we can feel stronger and healthier.
People who succeed with losing weight and keeping it off for the long term have changed the way they think about food, eating, exercise, and their bodies. Here are some of the strategies I share with my clients to help them change their relationship with food.
1. Think More.
Most of us have had the experience of snacking and having the whole bag gone before we knew it. When eating becomes a mindless behavior, it is time to be more mindful.
We eat for the experience of the meal just as much as we do to fuel our bodies. So allow yourself to enjoy the experience. Eat without distractions. Put away your phone, turn off the TV, and make it an event. Pay attention to every bite and you’ll wind up eating less and enjoying it more.
2. Listen to Your Body.
You check the fuel gauge in your car so you’ll know when you need to fill up and when you have enough gas to get to where you’re going. And you wouldn’t try to fill up the gas tank of your car when it is already full. Your body has a fuel gauge called hunger. It may be a strong physical feeling or a more subtle emotional nudge that lets you know when you need to fill up your tank.
Listen to your body. Before you put anything in your mouth, check your internal fuel gauge for real physical hunger. If you are hungry, then choose something healthy and eat it slowly. If you aren’t really hungry, then your body is looking for something else, like rest, water, or activity.
3. Don’t Eat Your Emotions.
Most of us have had the experience of getting something to eat when we are bored, or sad, or lonely, or stressed. There are a couple problems with this cycle of eating in response to an unpleasant feeling. The first problem is that eating in response to emotions means you eat more than you need, and that causes you to gain weight.
The second problem is that there is no food or drink that will satisfy any feeling you have except real physical hunger. Sure, those snacks will distract you for a bit, but the unpleasant feeling will come back again, and again, and again until you deal with the feeling.
When you find yourself reaching for something to eat when you know you aren’t even hungry, take a moment to look for the feelings behind the desire to snack. If you are stressed, take a break. If you are tired, you need sleep or rest. If you are anxious, there is something that needs your attention.
All of our feelings are good, even the unpleasant ones. Practice taking some time to identify what your feelings are trying to tell you. You will find that you are better able to satisfy yourself, without gaining weight.
4. Move More
As you start to lose weight, your body will look for easy fuel to burn, and it will start by burning muscle. Gradually increasing your physical activity every day will ensure that you keep your muscle and burn fat instead.
Create a goal for yourself to take one more step than you did yesterday. That’s all, just take one more step than you did yesterday.Keep a small notebook in your kitchen and write down your total steps each day. Even though your device will keep track of this for you, writing it down keeps you more motivated, and you can enjoy that feeling of accomplishment when you write down your steps for the day.
5. Celebrate Every Victory - No Matter How Small
When you only eat one cookie instead of the whole pack, celebrate your control! When you decide you don’t really want the birthday cake at the office, celebrate your ability to choose! When you take the stairs when you really want to ride the elevator, celebrate your strength!
Success breeds success, so by celebrating the little wins, you are motivating yourself to do the things that make you win more. Set yourself up for success, and don’t be afraid to praise every little thing you do that gets you closer to your goal.
At the same time, don’t beat yourself up. You are learning new skills, defining new behaviors, and establishing new limits. Give yourself room to learn, which means failing every once in a while.
The Role of Hypnosis
Hypnosis is so successful in helping people to shed unwanted weight because it changes the way you think about food, eating, and exercise at the source. Hypnosis allows you to create new behaviors and new healthy habits easily and quickly, so that you are more in control of how you think, feel, and act.
Hypnosis can clarify the emotions that have been impacting your relationship with food and your body. It can allow you to better understand those emotions and release the ones that have been holding you back.
Hypnosis creates new neural-pathways in your brain. If your default response to stress is to eat ice cream, the feeling of stress is linked physically in your brain with the response of eating ice cream. Using hypnosis, you are able to break that connection and create a different automatic response to stress. This process is called neuroplasticity and changes the way certain brain cells communicate with each other.
Hypnosis uses your own imagination as a blueprint. Hypnosis lets you imagine yourself as a smaller size living in your healthier body, and uses that as a blueprint to create the new you. Because you are using your own thoughts and feelings, the changes you want to achieve are accepted by the subconscious mind as true, and you see results quickly with less resistance.
You don’t need to take my word for it though! Click the links below to get instant access to my hypnosis audio program “End Emotional Eating” and start enjoying the benefits for yourself.∎
Click HERE for your Free “Abdominal Breathing for Anxiety and Stress Relief” tool